Saturday, November 6, 2010

Today was the BEST day ever. I got to go to my first UGA game with my two favorite guys! Our friend Scott Kaiser got 4 free tickets from his friend Alex. He invited us to go with him and his friend Christa. We picked them up at 10:00 and we headed to Athens. I can't believe that I have lived here my whole life and never been to a GA game. I was so excited I cold hardly stand it. We got to Athens around 11:00 and parked at the institute building so we didn't have to pay for parking which was a big plus. We had great seats. We were on row 22 on the side of the endzone. UGA was Playing the Idaho State Bengals or "BINGals" if you ask the announcers or Scott. We had a fun time making fun of that all day. The game was a huge blowout! UGA was leading 41 to zero at halftime. They ended up winning 55 to 7. It was not the most exciting game obviously but it was still really fun to be there. GO DAWGS!!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Today is the last time megan will be the citizen of the month. She is in 5th grade and will be going to middle school next year. I am so proud of her for being the citizen of the moth every year since kindergarten. That shows me that she is a great student and has great character. This months Tiger Trait is Punctuality. Megan was chosen because she is always on time to school and completes all her assignments on time. Being on time is a huge thing in our house. It is something we have tried hard to instill in our children. We are so proud of you Megan and we love you.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Today Megan had a swim meet against Ashford Dunwoody. She swan the Relays and the Free, Back and Breast. She did a great job as always. Megan is a great little swimmer. We are so proud of how well she is doing.
Free Relay 3.13.39 (2nd)
Medley Relay No Time, They must of received a DQ ???
Freestyle 42.33 (3rd)
Back Stroke 56.51 (2nd)
Breast Stroke 1.06.23 (6th)

Thursday, September 23, 2010

You would think that since I help my mom with her Catering/Wedding business that I know how to cook. Well I do know how to cook, what I don't know is how to Bake. Today my mom taught me how to make a homemade apple pie from scratch. We had a really great time and the pie turned out really good. It was actually really easy to make your own crust. I assumed that it would take a lot longer than it did. Since Alexis is allergic to cinnamon I made her her own tiny pie without cinnamon. It was really cute. I love that I am able to be close to my mom and that we can share days like this together. She decided she needed to get a picture of me with my leg perched up because I always have my leg up while I am cooking in the kitchen. It's not so weird, my sister Jenn does the same thing!!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Megan had to make cookies for a Civil War project at school. She decided to make apple sauce cookies. She did a great job. Megan and Alexis both love cooking, something I think they got from their Grandma Cersey.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Today we got to go visit baby Tate at the hospital. The girls were so excited they couldn't stand it. They have been waiting for him for months. Sis, (Jana Waisath Houghtelling) is a friend of mine that I have know since I was a kid. When I had my girls she was their official babysitter. My girls love Sis and were so excited about baby Tate. When Sis goes back to work I will be taking care of Tate and I can't wait. I love him already.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Megan tried out for chorus a couple weeks ago. She had to sing My Country Tis of Thee. We are excited to say that she made it. Today is her first class. She has practice every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:45. She is so excited for this. She has a beautiful voice and I can't wait to go hear her sing. We are very proud of Megan!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Today we had the Andrade's over to celebrate Patrick's birthday. Patrick, Esther, Gabby and Natalia came. We love the friendship we have made with the Andrade's and will forever love their family. We always have fun when they are around and we spend most of our time laughing. The Andrade's are huge Miami fans so I decided to make Patrick and "U" cake. He was pretty excited and it turned out great. What a fun day this was.

Monday, September 6, 2010

The kids had school off today for Labor Day so we decided to go up to Blue Ridge and pick apples. The Cano's joined us. Albert's brother Manuel and his family were visiting from Mexico so they came along as well. We had a fun time and the kids enjoyed picking and eating the apples. After we were all done we had a picnic outside on the lawn. We had a really fun day.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Today Megan had her induction to the safety patrol. They had a little celebration at school this morning. We are so proud of the good example Megan sets for others and her willingness to serve others. We love you Megan.

Alexis was chosen as the citizen of the month for September. The Tiger Trait for September is School Pride. Alexis was picked because she shows care and satisfaction for her school's achievements and successes. We are so very proud of Alexis and the great student she is and for the good example she sets for others. We love you Alexis.

Alexis has been asking to get her hair cut. I am in love with her long hair and din't want her to do it. I finally gave in and let her Grandma cut it. I can't believe I let her do it but she look really cute with her new hair style.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

We took our neighbor Casey Moore to the Georgia Dome to watch Grayson play Kell in the Cory Kell Tournament. Our other neighbor Arron Nichols plays for Grayson, so we went to support him and because we love football at our house. We had a great time and always love a chance to go to the dome.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Megan started piano lessons today. Her teacher is Yvonne Tutt who is Megan's grandma's best friend. We are so excited for Megan to learn how to play the piano. She has a beautiful singing voice and I can't wait to hear her play and sing.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Today is the first day of school for the girls. Megan is in 5th grade and Alexis is in 2nd Grade. Megan's teacher is Mrs. Neil and Alexis teacher is Mrs. Spears. They are both super excited to get back to school.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The Moore's had friend passes to six flags and they invited us to go with them to see Mitchel Musso in concert. The girls were so excited. He is from the Disney tv show Hannah Montana. It was so completely hot outside so we rode Thunder River and played at the water park to cool off. The girls were so excited to watch the concert.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Today Mom and Andy both had knee Surgery. They have the same Doctor, Gary Levengood, who did their Surgeries back to back. They both had an ACL replacement and Andy also had his torn Meniscus repaired. We figured it was a great idea to just get it all done in one day. That way I could take care of both of them at the same time. Mom has a chair at her house that we call the two butt chair, this is where mom and Andy sat for a week after surgery. We decided to stay the week at moms house so I could help take care of mom while dad went to work. They both had a huge brace that was hooked up to an ice machine. They had to unhook it anytime they needed to get up. Since it was such a project, if one got up to go to the bathroom I made the other one get up too!! Dad and I had to get up in the middle of the night to give medicine and replace their ice. Hopefully they will feel better soon.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

After the County meet we went with our friends the Calicone's to the Firehouse. Fred works there are decided it would be fun to let the kids sit on the trucks and spray the hose. The kids had a really fun time. Megan and AnnaHaving fun with Fred, Steven, Julie and Anna

Megan Made it to County her first year swimming in the Summer League. We are so proud of her. She was able to swim with her relay team. She was invited to do both the 100Free relay and the 100 Medley relay. She ended up only swimming in the free relay so that another little girls got the opportunity to swim one of the relays. She did such a great job. The County meet is held at Georgia Tech in their big indoor aquatic center. This is the same place that the Olympics were swam back in 1996. Megan was so excited that she got to swim in the same pool as Michael Phelps. We decided that since we had to be at the pool so early in the morning that we would get a hotel close by and spend the night down town. Megan thought that was awesome. We spent the night playing Rummy cube together. That next morning we got to the pool bright and early and got Megan all ready to go. In the Hotel all ready and excited to go!

Georgia Tech

Warm ups

Warm up and Team Picture

This place is Huge!

It finally time for the race. Girls 9-10 100 yard Free Style Relay. Megan is swimming in the 4th position. Her relay consists of Anna, Jayla, Ava, and Megan.

Megan's relay was in lane 6 and they held the lead and won 1st place in their heat. I am so proud of Megan and her finishing strong for her team.

Megan's relay ended up with 1st in their heat and 23rd out of 50 overall. WAY TO GO MEGAN!!!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Since I am the 1st counselor in the Grayson Ward YW Presidency I was able to go down to girls camp for the night to see the skits. Our girls did a fantastic job. The theme this year was Dr. Seuss, Oh the places you will go. Each ward was given a different book to use for a skit. Our ward got The foot book. Chloe McWilliams choreographed a really cute dance to some music with the words to the book in the background. Our skit was the best by far!!

Our Family Time Line

January 1999 – We have our first encounter between two lost souls (Andy & Jessica). Andy took a ski trip with his family to Grand Targhee in Driggs, ID. Jessica was at RicksCollege and is invited to go with. She accepts although she has never been skiing before. She takes a few runs with the beginners then Dad Dollar says, “Andy, take Jess up on the lift now and help her come down. I guess I was being setup. She did well. She only fell and hit me in the head with her poles ones. We dropped her off and she didn’t want to leave. I guess I was to irresistible.

Mar 1999 – Finally reunited after our trip. The sparks were flying!

April 1999 – Engagement

June 1999 – Wedding

July 1999 – It time for our honeymoon. We went to Europe for two weeks (Czech & Bulgaria). Let’s not forget that this was with 40 other people. We went a tour with the performing group Andy was in. It was so much fun!

June 2000 – The first of our beautiful little girls joined our family. Megan Elise was born in American Fork, UT.

July 2000 – Andy leaves his new baby girl and wife to tour Europe again. This trip took him to Hungary and Romania. There’s nothing like being able to see how blessed we are to live with such great freedom. Third world countries are truly an eye opener. Another great experience!

September 2000 – Andy sat on the bed in his parents’ room with all his brothers and sisters gathered to tell them all that we as a family were moving to the South (Georgia) to take a job and be closer to Jessica’s entire family. This was one of the hardest days of Andy’s life. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

October 2000 – We move to GA and Andy starts new job with Grainger Industrial Supply. Andy progressed quickly in the leadership ranks and eventually decided that he would try his luck sales.

December 2001 - We bought our first little home. Yippee! We are no longer living with parents. Not that it was all that bad. It was sure nice to be just us though.

December 2002 – The second of our beautiful little girls joined our family. Alexis Nicole was born in Lawrenceville, GA.

May 2005 – Andy finds that thing that brings him so much relaxation in life, officiating high school football. Anyone that knows anything about the south, that statement was an oxymoron. Football in the south is like another religion for these people. They live, breathe, talk about, and wait for it everyday of their lives. Andy really enjoys being on the field every Friday night and giving back to the boys. He loves the game and being able to still be a part of it is really a blast. He thinks he doesn’t get enough with JV games (Thursday nights), and Varsity games (Friday nights) so he also does Saturday youth ball too.

June 2006 – The time for change is upon us. We moved into a new home and Andy left Grainger to finally join his dad and other family members in his fathers business. He is in a customer service role that allows him to travel all over the country taking care of clients. He really enjoys the work but traveling can take its toll on you.

September 2007 – Jess begins her own business. After struggling to decide if she really wanted to work or just be mother, Jess decided that she wanted to do both. She found something that would allow her to do so. She loves her role of being an Independent Consultant for Heritage Makers. The bottom line of Heritage Maker is that each of us has a story. Story is at the heart of all we do. Stories provide a way for us to discover the rich heritage of which we are a part. With Heritage Makers these stories can be preserved forever in custom hardbound books and projects. Instead of my wife pulling out all of her scrap booking supplies, she is now able to do everything she would have done and much more all on her computer. This has truly been something that has helped our family. Our girls absolutely love seeing the completed projects of events that have occurred in their lives. Anyone interested in seeing what this is all about feel free to check it out at: www.mypricesslesskeepsakes.com.Ok that was the salesman in me.

April 2008 - Well now that we are somewhat caught up we will do our best to keep things updated.

LITTLE SIDE NOTE

2004-2007 – On a lighter note, we as a family have tried to bring other spirits into this life but have not been so lucky. Jess has had four miscarriages in the last 4 years. Yes that is one a year. It has been really hard but we feel so blessed to have the two wonderful girls we do. We have learned a lot about overcoming trials and tribulations but most importantly we have learned to rely on the Lord in all things.